daa's Sustainability Credentials See It Welcomed Into UN Initiative

daa, the operator of Dublin and Cork airports, has signed up to the United Nations Global Compact Initiative — a voluntary leadership platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible business practices. 

daa is one of the first 60 Irish organisations to join the global network of thousands of companies committed to taking responsible business action. 

The UN Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of UN goals and issues embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Launched in 2000, the UN Global Compact is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world, with more than 15,000 companies and 3,800 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and more than 69 Local Networks.  

According to daa CEO Kenny Jacobs: "At daa, we're committed to having sustainability at the core of everything we do, across all aspects of our business. The UN Global Compact provides an opportunity for businesses to be transparent and accountable on their progress, and we are delighted to join the thousands of other companies signed up. This is an important milestone in daa's transition into a sustainable business as we strive to become a net zero carbon business by 2050 at the latest." 

In line with the National Climate Action Plan 2021, daa is committed to a target reduction of 51% energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a 50% improvement in energy efficiency and a requirement for 50% of space heating to be from renewable sources. 

Dublin Airport is currently demonstrating a -53% energy performance reduction in energy efficiency, already beating the targets, and an -18% reduction in GHG emissions versus baseline (2016 – 2018). Meanwhile, Cork Airport has achieved -66% energy performance reductions in Energy Efficiency, already beating the targets, and an -45% reduction in GHG emissions versus baseline, leading to it recently being ranked as the best performing commercial semi state company or public body for energy savings for the second year running by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

Dublin Airport has plans for sustainable infrastructure upgrades over the next 4 years to a value of €400 million, including the generation of renewable energy through solar PV and anaerobic digestion, and widescale electrification of fleet. By 2025, 100% of the light vehicle fleet at Dublin Airport will be electric with all of these projects integral to achieving daa’s sustainability commitments, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reductions targets.